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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Seraphina

I had the privilege of reading an early incarnation of the novel now to be published as Seraphina, a story about music and (shape-changing!) dragons, family secrets and growing up. The world in which it is set is incredibly rich and complex, and the characters intensely "human." It made me cry, and you can consider that an endorsement.

I met Rachel online many years ago — she's one of the first bloggers I ever interacted with and one of the smartest, funniest bloggers I know. She created the fabulous comic book Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming, and it's in part thanks to her encouragement, and the fine example she sets in striking a balance between literary smarts and smart-assery, that I ever made it through Don Quixote, Middlemarch, etc.

I've not yet read the published version of Seraphina (but my copy is on the way). The story has changed considerably since the draft I saw, but it's peopled by the same characters and set in the same world. Rachel has spent years pouring her soul into this work. It can only have gotten better.